Department of Political Science

Why political science?

Our recent graduates have found work in government, whether for the Federal Department of Veteran’s Affairs in Philadelphia, as a legislative aide for a PA state senator, or for an interest group that attempts to influence our elected leaders. One of our former students was elected to the Bloomsburg Town Council and then was twice elected the Mayor of Bloomsburg. He became the youngest mayor in town history!

Our world is constantly changing. Political science provides students with an opportunity to study how the United States government and governments around the world make decisions that affect everyone on our planet.

At its core, we examine how decisions are made in government, who makes these decisions, and who benefits (and loses) from government policies.

A degree in political science will provide students with critical thinking and writing skills necessary to navigate, understand, and even control the political world around us.

Other Political Science graduates have chosen to pursue graduate school or law school. Our former students have been accepted to graduate and law schools such as Widener University, Penn State University, Penn State Dickinson School of Law, Drexel University, Drexel University Law School, Ohio University, Temple University, Roger Williams Law School, Northeastern, Duquesne, Texas A&M University, and Hamline University School of Law, among others. Our five permanent faculty members bring a wide-range of expertise and teaching excellence to our programs.

Our faculty have specializations in American Politics, Constitutional Law, African Politics, Public Policy, European Politics, Asian Politics, Immigration, Information Technology and Politics, Political Theory, Human Rights, the United Nations, and Feminist Political Theory. We offer students the opportunity to specialize in the study of law and in public administration management. There are also many opportunities for students to learn through academic internships at the local, state, and national levels.

The Department of Political Science sponsors the Political Science Student Association (POSSA), Pi Sigma Alpha (The Political Science Honor Society), and the Bloomsburg University Forensics (Speech and Debate) Team for valuable experiences outside the classroom.

We invite you to join us in the study of politics and government.

Research on religion and politics wins Prateek Goorha award

Looking at the current political landscape Justice Powlus has wondered many things, such as what makes people think gender discrimination is okay and is there commonality amongst these people?

The topic struck a chord, so the Bloomsburg University political science major researched it. And in fact, he won an award for it.

“Even though America has some belief in separation of church and state, it does not always seem to be entirely true,” said Powlus, who recently won the Prateek Goorha Best Research Paper Award for his research on whether religious attendance correlates to individual’s outlook on a number of gender issues, including abortion and domestic violence. “This paper seeks to explore if there is a correlation between a person’s religiousness, more specifically, the person’s religious attendance, and an assortment of gender related issues within today’s American society.”

His research award includes a $500 scholarship made possible by Prateek Goorha, a former BU professor who made a generous contribution to the Department of Political Science in support of undergraduate research. The political science department selects the best research methods paper out of the research papers submitted in Research in Political Science course every semester.

“I chose political science as my major, because I hoped it would broaden my understanding of the U.S. legal system and government,” said Powlus, adding that majoring in political science is getting him a step closer to his ultimate goal, law school.